2008/2009 Hockey Thread v2.0

[Gabriel]

Is EHM 07 the newest version of the game?

Are there updated rosters and stuff available? I've been thinking about grabbing it, because I used to play Eastside back when it was free... I'm just not sure I want to spend $35 on it, what with NHL 09 coming out in a week and a half.

[Toe]

NHL: EHM 07 is the newest version.

The McCabe to Florida deal is expected to be announced tomorrow at 11 AM ET. Toronto is expected to get Mike Van Ryn back in return. He is 4 years younger and can play the powerplay (although not at McCabe's level). His contract will help the Leafs going into the next offseason. Imagine Toronto signing UFA Marian Gaborik. That would be a huge plus for the rebuilding, suddenly having an offensive star in the line-up. Toronto hasn't had a pure goal scoring forward in a long while.

[Plubby]

Ruki?

[Toe]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=248234&amp...s=topStory_main

The McCabe trade is official.

[Ruki]

Ruki?

Plubby?

[Plubby]

Go back to your last post, silly.

[Ruki]

Ruki?

Plubby?

What about that post?

In seriousness, how would we go about buying it?

[Mike Ockizitchy]

So my mom got me two tickets to any Rangers game I want at the Garden this year for my birthday. By far my best present, since I've only been to one pro hockey game in my life. I mean, Ottawa and Buffalo came to Bingo to play exhibition, and I saw Hossa (who was one of my favorite players at the time, and he had 2 goals and an OT winner) and a couple other guys, but still not a real game.

So any advice on which game I should go see? I'm thinking I'd like to see Montreal play them...

[Toe]

So my mom got me two tickets to any Rangers game I want at the Garden this year for my birthday. By far my best present, since I've only been to one pro hockey game in my life. I mean, Ottawa and Buffalo came to Bingo to play exhibition, and I saw Hossa (who was one of my favorite players at the time, and he had 2 goals and an OT winner) and a couple other guys, but still not a real game.

So any advice on which game I should go see? I'm thinking I'd like to see Montreal play them...

I'd say either Montreal, Philadelphia or the Islanders.

Gaborik still undecided about future...

I think if Gaborik does reach free agency, the Leafs will be at the front of the line with a massive deal to try and get him. He is still young and you could build around him.

[Gabriel]

The Bruins signed Stephane Yelle today.

I know it doesn't sound like a very big signing, but he will help them tremendously. He pretty much should be able to slide into the same role Glen Murray played for them... which, along with the addition of a potential 30 Goal Scorer in Michael Ryder, should help to keep the B's as a playoff team.

I know everyone's got reservations about Ryder, but he will probably log most of his ice time this season on a line with the game's best set-up man in Marc Savard, so if he hits 25/30 goals, I won't be surprised.

[TGWL]

Just thought I'd post this because I was pretty shocked.

There's the "agony of defeat." And then there's this women's ice hockey score from the European Olympic pre-qualifying tournament: Slovakia 82, Bulgaria 0.

That's correct: eighty-two goals for Slovakia, none for Bulgaria.

The International Ice Hockey Federation said the result, from a game played Saturday at the tournament in Liepaja, Latvia, set a record score for a women's IIHF-sanctioned event. It was not the all-time record for futility, however; that is still held by Thailand, which lost 92-0 to South Korea in the 1998 Asia-Oceania U18 Championship.

Slovakia, which won all four of its games at the tournament, outshot Bulgaria 139-0, scoring on 58.9 percent of their shots on goal. They averaged one goal every 44 seconds.

Bulgaria trailed 7-0 after 5 minutes, 19-0 after 10 and 31-0 at the end of the first period.

The drubbing capped a woeful showing for the Bulgarian women, who also lost 30-1 to Croatia and 41-0 to Italy in earlier games.

[Toe]

Radulov wants back into the NHL?

It sounds like, after playing a few games, Radulov now wants back in. This says a lot about the quality of the Russian league as some sort of competition.

[Mike Ockizitchy]

I say tell him to fuck off. He should have like a probabtion for fuckin them over and makin our league look bad. He acts like he can do what he wants but now he's like oh wait, this league sucks, can I come back? I wish it was plausible to really give him probation, especially knowing he wants back, but if Bertuzzi only got what he got then there's no way they'll give him too much punishment.

[Plubby]

Five years late, Patrick Roy is having his number retired by the Habs. About time, Montreal. Congrats, St. Patrick.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Well Montrealers just don't accept you until you send your son to assault a rival goalie.

[Toe]

NHL looking into Europe within 10 years?

Playing a few regular season games is okay by me, but the NHL first has to stabilize everything here before moving onto putting teams in Europe. I also don't know how you would deal with the travel arrangements and everything...it would be pretty brutal to add that much more travel to any teams schedule.

[Gabriel]

I think, the only way to make it work, would be to have a division of teams located in Europe...

Send one division of North American teams over at a time to play away games against the European teams, but make sure to give them two to three days off before and afterwards, to avoid massive jet lag.

Then, when the European teams play away games, send them over to play an entire series against a specific division.. and at times when they're not scheduled to be flying out, or have teams flying in, they could play their games against each other.

I still don't like the idea, but if they're going to do it anyways, they need to be very careful with the scheduling.

I'm also extremely happy to read that higher ups in the NHL want to expand more into Canada before going to Europe. We may not have as many "major" cities as the States, but I think it's a no-brainer that even our moderately sized cities can support a team better than some of these major American markets.

There are also some markets in the US that should probably be given a look before Europe is looked to.

[gunnar hendershow]

They should move teams over to Europe instead of adding new teams. All in all, I think a NA Conference and an EU Conference would work perfectly. The Berlin Thrashers vs. the Detroit Red Wings for the Stanley Cup.

[Toe]

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=16729

Thats a good article about the subject of NHL Euro expansion. I think there are enough big markets in Europe to potentially put teams there. The only problem I have is travel and TV times, but I am sure those things can be sorted out.

[Gabriel]

They should move teams over to Europe instead of adding new teams. All in all, I think a NA Conference and an EU Conference would work perfectly. The Berlin Thrashers vs. the Detroit Red Wings for the Stanley Cup.

Why move an existing team from a market that isn't suffering, and risk bombing? If any teams move, they'll be moved to Canada or large American markets with no team. If Europe is ever brought into the NHL, they will be expansion teams.